[NB: Since this is both late and long, I’m posting it as a diary at DailyKos where you’ll find out that I’m also cymack.]

Does anyone know why Cheney wanted to destroy the intelligence community? Forget about 9/11 – he’s been gunning for the CIA et al since day one.

There’s a rich backstory to this, concerning so-called ‘Team B’ exercises from the 1970s. These were parallel intelligence efforts that came to be very much like the Iraq War Stovepipe. At various points in time some of the same people were involved. Korb at Center for American Progress provides an overview, and the companion piece by Alterman is also useful. (*) A few points of note:

The first Team B was probably created by G.H.W. Bush in 1976, when he was CIA director. The objective was to provide for outside, competitive analysis of the Agency’s recent NIE on the Soviet Union, at a time when hardliners were pressing Pres. Ford to abandon the Nixon-Kissinger detente policy. The hardliners thought that the NIE underestimated the Soviet threat. In fact, later evaluation showed that the CIA had been overestimating the threat, so that the beefed-up assessments that came from Team B were wild exaggerations.
The failures of Team B ‘analysis’ were not apparent for years; in the interim, forecast failures were explained away by the contemporary version of Saddam’s well-hidden wmd caches. Therefore, because the papers they published conformed to the tastes of certain ideologues, both they and their outsider methodology, I believe, became popular during the 1980s. To quote Korb on the 1976 episode:

Although the Team B report contained little factual data, it was enthusiastically received by conservative groups such as the Committee on the Present Danger, whose members included Ronald Reagan, and the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.

Then we come to this example of Team B ‘methodology’ at its finest, in the G.H.W. Bush administration:

In the first Bush administration, the CIA claimed that Soviet spending on weapons started declining in 1988 and that the number of Soviet strategic launchers was staying the same or declining. Then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney argued publicly that the Soviet Union’s efforts to modernize its strategic nuclear weapons were “robust and continuous.”[7] Moreover, Cheney asserted that there was “absolutely no evidence” that Gorbachev’s ascension had altered Soviet strategic planning.

When the Team B folks were out of power, during the Clinton years, they discovered how useful their methodology was in harassing an incumbent:

When an NIE in the mid-1990s concluded that it would be at least 15 years before a rogue nation could threaten the U.S. with an intercontinental ballistic missile, it undercut the hardliners’ case for deploying a national missile defense system. House Speaker Newt Gingrich did not like this assessment, so the Republicans demanded Congress set up a commission headed by Donald Rumsfeld to assess the threat. As Washington Times reporter Rowan Scarborough noted, the “nine-member commission was tilted in Rumsfeld’s favor.”[9] Not surprisingly, it concluded that once again the intelligence community was wrong. In its view, “the threat to the U.S. posed by these emerging capabilities is broader, more mature, and evolving more rapidly than has been reported in estimates and reports by the intelligence community.“[10]

[All footnote numbers are Korb’s, but the emphasis is mine.]

So as Korb goes on to imply, the intelligence community was softened up by a lot of battering of this type even well before the second Bush administration.

In my opinion, this backchanneling, uncontrolled Team B methodology is the most pernicious effect of the present regime in the White House, aside from the perniciousness of many of its actual policies. The process (ha! I almost capitalized Process) of it is not that of a distributed analysis meant to converge on some truths, or even of a competitive debate. It is the ‘process’ of spamster, or of a wiseguy standing up in a meeting with a bullhorn.

Incidentally, I’ve formed the conjecture that the reason the … Administration got their socks on heel up about Joseph Wilson’s column is that they feared any mention of Cheney in connection with prewar intel analysis would lead, not to the exposure of lies—hell, what is that to these folks, they just keep repeating the same ones anyway—but to the exposure of the extent of the Team B, and the power that was given to these people to use without accountability. Recall the precise nature of Fleischer’s fumbling at the first press gaggle after Wilson’s column: completely unbidden and in disregard of the actual question he was asked, Fleischer told everyone all about how Cheney did not request, was not informed of, never knew about Wilson’s mission. It was the fact that Cheney’s name was out there in the chain of command that I think got them all over the Wilsons in the end.

(*) Here are two more articles that put Team B into to context of the present unpleasantness: http://www.truthout.org/docs_0…..703A.shtml The Selling of the Iraq War: The First Casualty and http://www.commondreams.org/cg…..207-26.htm Hyping Terror for Fun, Profit—and Power

Conspiracy theorists, Ruppert on FTW has been expousing that the outing of Valerie Plame was the final straw of the Cheney WH being “bad for business” and that the cabal of Bush 41, the Caryle Group, et al have decided to remove Cheney and those around Bush 43. I can’t see how they can protect Jr. but it’s looking like they’re bring down the hammer on Cheney and co.

http://www.fromthewilderness.c…..detat.html

PS: Even Fitz admitted he’d have liked to have his investigation finished before the ‘04 election but Libby’s obstruction put the cabosh on that plan.

Cheney:
any evidence of Cheney’s hand in whacking Sen. Wellstone? remember the guy whose private plane went down soon after he was the only Sen. to vote NO re: the war?

Taylor…Puzzled, not true, Eisenhower spent his presidency stopping the MI from spending the country into bankruptcy.

I said his ‘whole’ career. The MI blossomed into serious being due to the needs of WWII and continued full bore after that. Ike helped build the industrial military and used it fairly masterfully in the War.

He was likened in this regard to the nuclear scientiest Oppenheimer, who used his genius to build the big one, then spent the rest of his career trying to put the genie back in the bottle.

So in that regard Ike was criticizing that which he had helped spring into being. That’s all I meant.

Bypass grafts always cause mild cognitive defects, but diabetes alone causes a bunch of damage. It’s a microvascular disease. If you x-ray the foot of a diabetic, you see a whole network of tiny, calcified vessels. That’s going on Cheney’s brain too.

However, when he was in Bush 41’s cabinet he played more centerist than he really is. Now the real Cheney has come out. That isn’t news for us, but I suspect that it’s news to a lot of the country. W can’t get rid of the Sith lord though, because the far right thinks he’s the cat’s meow and Rove still has W sucking up to the far right wackos.

Great Story “Dick Cheney’s Song for America” at Harper’s

http://www.harpers.org/DickChe…..erica.html

“secretary of State asked me to assemble on how this all got started, what the audit trail was,”

Was Powell really up to something back then, or was this just his habit after years in Pentagon/ Joint Chiefs to always have some kind of insurance ?

(I posted this over at Steve Clemons’ today too:)

Hmmm. I’ve wondered how Poppy was going to clean up the idiot son’s mess this time. Now I know how. Wilkerson has been sent out by Poppy’s boys to pin this all on Cheney. I’m not buying that it was all Cheney’s fault one bit.

The tip off, from Thursdays’ IHT:
“…he believed that Cheney’s staff prevented Bush from seeing a National Security Council memo arguing strongly that the United States needed many more troops for the March 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq.”

Oh really? Now we’re to believe that poor little W would have done the right thing if only his treacherous underlings hadn’t kept important information from him? Nice try, Poppy. But it will probably work, at least on some level.

Wilkerson has emphasized again and again in interviews how much he & GHWB adore each other. Reminds me of the scene with the undertaker Bonaserra in the Godfather. “Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me…”

Of course, his whole career had helped put it in place.

Puzzled, not true, Eisenhower spent his presidency stopping the MI from spending the country into bankruptcy. That was why he developed strategic weapons as a response against the Soviets: otherwise the MI would have the country armed at WWII levels or more indefinitely.

Guess what happened when Reagan came in? Imagine that debt level sustained from the early 50s on….

>You don’t mess with the NSC and live to tell the tail.

That’s bs. Lots of people have messed with the NSC, including, of course, Team Cheney.

>Does anyone know why Cheney wanted to destroy the intelligence community? Forget about 9/11 – he’s been gunning for the CIA et al since day one.

Destroy isn’t the right idea here. He want to redo intell to suit the longterm needs of his Team.

>What’s the back story?

Well, in short, as soon as they took office, they more or less liquidated the NSC working groups. Look at the EO and Rice’s paperwork. They stovepiped all of the existing channels into Rice and Cheney’s offices using Clarke as cover. Rumfeld did similar stuff throughout the DoD at the same time.

> Does anyone else see the hand of G.H.W. Bush behind all this?

No. Maybe various ex-friends of the Bushes but not 41.

Well, okay, Cheney’s guilty. So, wtf are we criticising him for hiring quilty staffers? Cheney can’t come clean because innocent, reasonable, staffers would help insure that Cheney goes to jail. Any attempt by Cheney to “come clean” will be a cover up, at a minimum. Release the VP paperwork that Cheney’s sitting on and Cheney goes to jail. Sort out the lines of communication, open the filing cabinets, just do your job and, same result, Cheney goes to jail.

So, again, why are we pushing Cheney to hire real staffers? He can’t.

Me

thank you for the link to Jeff Sessions. I should keep it on my favorites…as a resident of Alabama I apolize for this asswipe. And Shelby too!

Bush Orders Staff to Attend Ethics Briefings

Like they need a class to learn that they shouldn’t be leaking the name of a covert CIA agent to the Press?

Bwa ha ha ha!!

dab:In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

dab, there was a powerful excerpt of one of Ike’s speeches in Good Night and Good Luck. very featured right at the end. He looked like man pissed about the subject of which you speak. Of course, his whole career had helped put it in place.

There was a tragic sense to it of a man outraged by the thing that his own fate had helped foreordain. A man simultaneously powerful in his recognition of the madness that he had been powerless to prevent.

ah, well, it’s late…nite all…y’all seem to be cool people..

This is who is running our country: Pump head and a dry drunk.
John Forde

a perfect storm

Gravatar Heh – been listening to Dylan a lot this week.
Pachacutec

i’ll say this for Dylan. Right about the time of the oks were being given for the first Gulf War, I recall he had some big public tv show where he came out and did an incandescent version of Masters of War. I’ll always admire him for that, because expressing an anti war sentiment that severe (what with the last verse…my favorite…and all) was a bit iffy at that moment.

Some days I get SO mad that I can hardly form a coherent sentence.

I have wonder whether this is even my/our country anymore? How could a group of self serving mad-men have gotten the power to take control? We not only swore but fought to stop the evil of Hilter and the “we know what’s best for you” method of governing to then allow ourselves to be controlled by these idiots?

Some days, I get so mad that I can hardly breathe.

Allard (R-CO)
Bond (R-MO)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Stevens (R-AK)

Me says these senators voted for the Torture bill.

They’re all pretty much Southern states, except Colorado. What’s up with Allard? Don’t we have a Dem who can beat him for that seat?

When Bush gave Cheney the job of making up a short list of candidates for the VP slot and Cheney put his name at the top of the list it might’ve been obvious to some that Cheney had his sights set even a little higher.

Still, I believe it’s a team effort and there are a large number of them who are involved in the Plame outing and other nefarious activities. They should all go down together, with perhaps Libby acting as an anchor to start it off.

I have heard Cheney referred to as a “pumphead” and the rumor was that he suffered some microstrokes during that surgury and it has affected his emotions.

I like the picture that goes with that AP story. Shows Cheney’s true inner beauty.

First, let me say I don’t like Cheney. He’s a self-serving bas**** Machiavellian. But, the Bush MO is to stab someone in the back when they don’t need them any more or when it’s terribly convenient. In this case I think Georgie Boy is desperate to find a fall guy and he thinks Big Time is available for that job.

Just because we get some juicy info that Cheney is the bad guy shouldn’t dissuade us from looking very closely at everything. Dubya is supposed to be in charge and Responsible and it just wouldn’t be right to not invite him to the hangin’, er kangaroo court, er impeachment trial.

Or as Hannibal Lecter said, “I’m going to have him over for dinner.” Heh heh.

Bobby G,

Oh, yeah. I hear ya too. My mother’s house was at the epicenter of the Northridge Earthquake in 1994, insurance co. very closely entangled with Neil Bush went bankrupt, etc. etc., and still, even yet, we she/I are dealing with a request to provide info to CIGA (?) some kind of CA backup insurance thing by Dec. 4, and I’m still 3000 miles away…

BTW, she loathes Bush, and that, at least, makes for a good point of agreement for telephonic communications. Read somewhere a while back that political preferences might be genetic… so maybe we come from good stock.
-

I remember Cheney from the early 80’s, when he was a Congressman from Wyoming.
My recollection is that he was easily the most rightwing member of Congress at that time, and he seemed batshit crazy then—-really scary.
I think he learned to hide his craziness, but he was never sane.
I’m sure the heart disease didn’t help. I believe it was Scowcroft who said that Cheney’s personality suffered a drastic change after his bypass operation in 1988—he could no longer control his temper at all.
By the way, I believe Cheney has only had one (quadruple) bypass operation; however, he has had 5 heart attacks. His ejection fraction can’t be very good.

Puzzled at 7:07

Every profession has it’s jargon. Even surgeons have ‘locker room talk”. When a person undergoes the stress of a heart bypass operation there are often attendant ‘micro-strokes’, resulting in reduced cognitive function. Surgeon’s call this “Pump head”.
Cheny has had four bypass operations.

This is who is running our country: Pump head and a dry drunk.

Valley Girl -

I hear ya. My Dad is down in Melbourne, FL. We live in Vegas. I have my own personal Delta red-eye seat from LAS to MLB and back, but I can’t go nearly as often as I’d like. My Ma is now 83, last fall I had to get her moved to assisted living, after she barely survived two direct hurricane hits (STILL dealing with insurance claims). My Pop’s gears are stripped, but when I hang with him (which she will NOT) he perks up and jabbers episodic sense, and I can make him laugh. I wish I could move him out to Vegas, and go see him every day, and take him out for rides and just hang.

My Pop was a PATRIOT. He would be aghast at what has been done to this nation in the past 4 years by the incoherent, infuriating Dilettante-in-Chief and his handlers.

—

sorry for the multiple post – refresh evidently equals repost as well

as for Sen McCain, claudia, he is first a pol and as such tends to pick his battles
that said, given the choice, i’d take him over Kerry
but we won’t be given the choice

in the mean time , consider succession
you need to pray for W’s continued health so long as the dark lord is next in line (empty suit regardless – you dont really want dickie in word and deed)
then we get to the cat killer
(things are not looking too sharp here)
i fell asleep in civics class
who’s next , assuming they’re all wearing orange next season?

i don’t see this congress or supremem court heading towards special election territory

Re the McCain amendment: Fine to write to the 9 senators, but don’t forget to write to the Cheney thug Dennis Hastert, who is personally blocking the McCain amendment. Hastert is the current devil here.

Bobby G:

re: the Salon piece, I never doubted you!! After all, I’m a scientist, and I believe in Intelligent Design.

Missed the info about your Dad until that last post. Hard going. My own had Alzheimer’s and died at 80. I remember him wanting me to organize his room in the nursing home by stacking all the chairs in one corner, and he was very insistent about that. I lived 3000 miles away, so I didn’t see him often. However, the last time I visited before his death (also same time as chair stacking commands) I took him out for a spin in his wheel chair. And, he pointed to some cars along the edge of the grounds, and asked “so which one is your rental car?”. And, he had beaten me at gin rummy, months before, even though I had to keep reminding him of the rules. So, even though you get strange responses back, I hope you will comfort yourself with the notion that the truth, love, and concern is going in
-

dab – How prescient!

Recently seen on a bumper sticker:

Would someone just give Bush a blowjob so we can impeach him?

Me,
Thanks for the contact info on the reincarnated Nazis. I’ve taken the liberty of posting this important information on my site.

…I too have had personal experience with terrorists with badges. It takes a long time to heal from such encounters.

Here’s to a brighter future and a return to National sanity..

Peace

Re: Masters of War…

I don’t know how many times in the past five years I’ve thought of Eisenhower’s farewell speech:

An excerpt:

“This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

Obviously this country is currently being run by the military industrial complex. And sadly that’s how the world now views us.

poor karl — another day, another scandal. it doesn’t quite reach the level of compromising national security, but the stink is all too familiar:

November 5, 2005
Spending Inquiry for Top Official on Broadcasting
By STEPHEN LABATON
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 – Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the head of the federal agency that oversees most government broadcasts to foreign countries, including the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, is the subject of an inquiry into accusations of misuse of federal money and the use of phantom or unqualified employees, officials involved in that examination said on Friday. …

In recent weeks, State Department investigators have seized records and e-mail from the Broadcasting Board of Governors, officials said. They have shared some material with the inspector general at the corporation, including e-mail traffic between Mr. Tomlinson and White House officials including Karl Rove, a senior adviser to President Bush and a close friend of Mr. Tomlinson.

Mr. Rove and Mr. Tomlinson became friends in the 1990’s when they served on the Board for International Broadcasting, the predecessor agency to the board of governors. Mr. Rove played an important role in Mr. Tomlinson’s appointment as chairman of the broadcasting board.

The content of the e-mail between the two officials has not been made public but could become available when the corporation’s inspector general sends his report to members of Congress this month.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11…..nted=print

Karen:

Link follows. As best I can figure, from this link, it is the McCain Amdt. No. 1977 to H.R. 2863 (Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2006). I’m quoting that from the link. Looks like the Senate was addressing a House Resolution (HR), and the McCain Amdt. was one of the amendments voted on by the Senate. Anyone who knows more, please feel free to chime in.

http://www.senate.gov/legislat…..9#position
-

dab -

No.

I thought long and hard before doing that (”you are now noticed”). But, screw it. Our nation is being put in the moral shitter by these people. I intend to go down swinging.

—

zennurse -

My heart aches for me Dad. He’s 89 and in a nursing home with dementia. Thinks I’m his brother. Confused as to why Pop would name us both “Bobby”.

I wanna die during full-court, driving the lane for a layup. (”… and that old school cracker bricked the layup…”)

—

Valley Girl: Would you please give us the Numbers for the bill and amendment containing McCain’s anti-torture language? If would be very helpful for those of us who intend to write to the nine senatorial thugs.

EPU- I’ve had the same sorts of thoughts myself. Don’t know what anomic breakdown is, actually, but I get the point. But, short of suicide, how would we actually know that Bush is totally off the rails? I mean, isn’t he already?
-

Valley Girl -

Yeah, there aren’t enough hours in the day it seems to keep up with the crap going down.

BTW- thanks for the kind words. I’m not shittin’ about the Salon piece, see this:

http://research.lifeboat.com/bigbrother.htm

(no longer directly online on Salon, but that was the article. He called me one day while I wuz at WORK! A cube rat place [think “Office Space] with enquiring ears all around. LOL.)

—

—

Yours in Fealty to the Homeland,

Robert E. Gladd
___________-

Robert – your letter to Poindexter is a classic. Brilliant even. I laughed so hard I cried.

Did you ever receive a response?

“Those among you full of highest teaching
Who teach us to renounce the major sins
Should know before you do your heavy preaching
Our middle’s empty, there it all begins

Your vices and our virtues are so dear to you
So learn this simple truth from this our song
Wherever you aspire, whatever you may do
First feed the face and then talk right and wrong
For even honest folk may act like sinners
Unless they’ve had their customary dinners

What keeps a man alive?

What keeps a man alive? He lives on others.
He likes to taste them first, then eat them whole if he can
Forgets that they’re supposed to be his brothers
That he himself was ever called a man.”

Heh – been listening to Dylan a lot this week.

Bobby G-

I salute you and your dad.

z

Pachacutec – As a pychiatrist (or psychologist), what do you think odds are that Preznit is heading for an anomic breakdown, if not suicide.

Bobby G:

Well, I always note your comments, but this one is a blow-out (? whatever that means..) so I had to say thanks for the personal info. and for the encouraging news that even “deluded” types such as yourself/ ourselves can CAN make a huge difference.

BTW, have you heard of Diebold? They need your attention too, ASAP.
-

For all you people asking the question: who is pulling the strings? Why does there have to be anyone pulling the strings? As if someone planned all this. Blood in the water is the better theory, once there was a little, a lot of people who have been pissed on felt emboldened. To believe that all of these people are somehow acting in concert defies, IMO, both logic and any calculation of probability.

The Wingnuts thought they were invincible, never planned on losing the upper hand, and are now paying for it, and will continue to pay for it.

Both people and institutions have long memories, particular career bureaucrats/public servants who work for little money and glory but like what they do and think it is important (and chances are it is). Then we can move on to politicians and their memories, other countries, the American people (at least not the Wackos). Who haven’t the Wingnuts pissed off?

You should believe in astrology as much as thinking that someone is giving “orders” or permission here.

There is a big vacuum at the moment, getting bigger with every revelation (and there will be more), and although nature does not abhor a vacuum, politics does, government can’t survive in one. It doesn’t require someone to say, “Oh, go and fill the vacuum.” It just happens. I don’t care how close Wilkerson is to Poppy Preznit, my bet is, he is doing this on his own b/c his love of country is greater than his feelings of loyalty to anyone.

Note to Claudia: You seem to think Dennis Hastert is a good republican. Dennis Hastert is as dirty as Cheney and Rove and the White House gang. He still thinks of himself as a wrestler, which he was in Illinois. He wasn’t a good wrestler. He isn’t a “good” speaker of the House of Representatives.

THREE CHEERS FOR THE FIREDOGLAKE-ISTAS

I have to add my voice loudly to the chorus of kudos accorded y’all w/respect to your blog. The authors, and the bulk of the posting contributors, have my great respect for both their devoted efforts, attention to detail and nuance, and their incisive analytics. Before a couple of weeks ago, I never paid any attention to the blogs. I found this one via something I as surfing that got me onto the Huffington Post, which got me here. I now check in every day.

We are in a very dangerous time (and NOT principally because of the “terrists” but in predominant measure owing to the criminals now in control of our federal administration), and the work of people like you is helping keep the MSM out of total suckup catatonia.

We CAN make a difference. e.g., I like to think I had a hand in helping scuttle the totally mendacious and functionally retarded DARPA “Total Information Awareness” civilian data mining proposal of 2002. When I learned of it, I got HUGELY pissed, so I wrote up some methodological rebuttal stuff, posted it online, and started emailing [ http://www.bgladd.com/Total_Information_Awareness/ ] Well, Farhad Manjoo of Salon.com called me one day outa the friggin’ blue for an interview, and then included me in a writeup. THAT led to my being contacted by Chuck Pena and Robert Levy of the Cato Institute. Cato people asked to use my stuff in a congressional briefing.

By all means, run with it.

I even sarcastically snailmailed the scummy TIA Director John Poindexter (remember HIM?) with this letter:

http://www.bgladd.com/Total_In…..eport.html

Not too long thereafter, TIA was scrubbed by Congress (officially, that is. Similar stuff continues. Eternal Vigilance is required.).

So, yeah, even a nobody, deluded fantasy camp NBA-2Guard-wannabee schmuck like me can help neuter these pricks.

Last year I posted THIS shit online: http://www.bgladd.com/War_President/

That one helped cost me my risk management bank job (the Prez was a gung-ho, in-your-face Bush supporter. I got found out, and written up for inappropriate internet use. Funny how it never happened to the company Bush evangelists. I quit, under pressure. Glad I did.).

Fuck ‘em. What does not kill me only serves to make me stronger.

Keep the pressure on, good folks. Just THINKING about George W. Bush and his criminal handlers raises my BP 20 points. I no longer have that kind of cardiac headroom to spare.

Let’s take our nation back and try to repair the damage done by these arrogant assholes.

—

The Nazgul

Wayne Allard: Supports Torture
http://allard.senate.gov/publi…..ntact.Home
202-224-6471 – fax

Kit Bond: Supports Torture
http://bond.senate.gov/contact/contactme.cfm
No fax

Tom Coburn: Supports Torture
http://coburn.senate.gov/index…..ntact.Home
202-224-6008 – fax

Thad Cochran: Supports Torture
http://cochran.senate.gov/contact.htm
No fax

John Cornyn: Supports Torture
http://www.cornyn.senate.gov/contact/index_1.html
202-228-2856 – fax

James Inhofe: Supports Torture
http://inhofe.senate.gov/contactus.htm
202-228-0380 – fax

Pat Roberts: Supports Torture
http://roberts.senate.gov/e-mail_pat.html
202-224-3514 – fax

Jeff Sessions: Supports Torture
http://sessions.senate.gov/email/contact.cfm
202-224-3149 – fax

Ted Stevens: Supports Torture
http://stevens.senate.gov/contact_form.cfm
202-224-2354 – fax

Eli: Helping Cheney to make a personal decision on a health-related resignation, then getting at least a placeholder, if not a firm guiding hand, into the Vice Presidency for salvage purposes seems to be goal here.

to be followed, if they can pull it off by a media campaign claiming that GW has turned it around, cleaned house, got the ship of state shipshape.

It would be just like a Time or newsweek to then run a pic of the grinning monkey captioned something like “The Comeback Kid.” Lots of people are suckers for comeback stories and there many media functionaries can come back home and glory in the calculated tale of resurgence.

Course, there still going to have to work some to put all the gremlins floating around out there, like the war, the economy, like pretty much the whole screwed up mess we find outselves in, back inside Pandora’s Box. But you can bet they’ll try to sell the notion that they have.

Claudia–

Denny Hastert, among his other less-than-stellar attributes, may have taken bribes from Turkish arms dealers and possible drug dealers. This according to the incompletely-gagged Sibel Edmonds, in yet another explosive scandal just waiting for a change in Congress to be fully exposed: http://www.democracynow.org/ar…..10/1346254

Me –

I stand in awe of your enthusiatic dedication to and belief in democratic action after all you’ve experienced at the hands of our government. Not unlike Sibel, in fact.

Oops …continued…

But when the chattel begin to smell rotten eggs, it’s time to make a regime change.

I wish I didn’t believe this were true, but the actions of so many Democrats siding with this wingnut crowd is very discouraging.

Hope I’m just depressed and terribly wrong.

Does anyone know why Cheney wanted to destroy the intelligence community? Forget about 9/11 – he’s been gunning for the CIA et al since day one.

What’s the back story? Does it have to do with the first Gulf War? It seems to be something personal

more rank speculation here, but I wonder if Cheney’s long health problems have, not to put too fine a point on, brain damaged him (say by oxygen deprevation) and pushed him into a form of psychosis or insanity (pach…terminology here?). recall Scowcroft, his former friend, said he doesn’t recognize Cheney now (speaking of his behavior). Secretive, hiding down in that bunker they blasted under his house, paranoid, surrounded by fellow dead enders. We’re in the hands of a nut (bunch of em actually…see little girl in cage with bear).

I predicted the elites turning on this Administration elsewhere some time back. While I believe there are others able to pull strings, I think they give their puppets a lot of leeway, enough to gain leverage in a fashion.

Look what’s been accomplished for now through this Administration. Certainly more than any former administration has accomplished in the past toward globalization of corporate interests. Those corporate interests, with bankers at the top of the chain, [i]are[/i] the elite.

and the ruling elite in the other western nations, have no doubt been giving people of the Scowcroft ilk an earful about the screwed up state of this government. there must be lots of pressure within the elite to ah adjust the steering of the great ship.

another dylan lyric that comes to mind

“fighting in the captain’s tower”

Desolation Row

:)

Me:

This link will give you info on H and S bills, and who voted which way.

http://thomas.loc.gov/

The problem is that you have to figure out the no. of the bill and the no. of the amendment. That’s what took me so long.

And, of course the MSCM (mainstream corporate media) doesn’t cite bill nos. or names of those voting yeah or nay, except in a random political fashion.
-

Sorry – tale – it’s been a long day.

The NSC people handled classified material, they no longer have access, but they are all smart cookies and have good memories.
_______________

You don’t mess with the NSC and live to tell the tail.

Does anyone know why Cheney wanted to destroy the intelligence community? Forget about 9/11 – he’s been gunning for the CIA et al since day one.

What’s the back story? Does it have to do with the first Gulf War? It seems to be something personal.

–The thought of “someone” even more controlling and in power than BushCo is too frightening.–

Goodness gracious, yes!

;->

Be afraid.

http://www.iht.com/articles/20…..edzbig.php

“They” are not happy with BushCo.

For the times they are a-changin’.
Pacifica

Masters of War isn’t too far off the mark either.

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it’s your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people’s blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You’ve thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I’m young
You might say I’m unlearned
But there’s one thing I know
Though I’m younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death’ll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand o’er your grave
‘Til I’m sure that you’re dead

I also wonder “Why now?”
all this stuff is nothing new – anyone who has been paying attention know this from the start
And I pointedly refused to contribute to NPR for two years since the invasion of Iraq. “Public” radio was giving us the “human” side of the military. Bah.
Anyways, while I am overjoyed to see the facade rupturing, my glee is tempered by the knowledge that tens, if not hundreds of thousands have died for this misadventure; my counry’s coffers have been pillaged, and if all the neocons were stripped of their wealth and subjected to a lingering death by the means they advocate, our country would still be shit out of luck and bereft of any kind of leadership.
Face it, the Dems were complicit sheep for years, unable to mount any sort of opposition. The best they have to offer is “We can do better” Of course we can do fucking better than morrally bankrupt thieves and murderers.
The fact is that the best opposition is coming from John McCain. Well … Patrick J Fitzgerald IS my hero, but we need leadership in Congress – and not from the Joe Liebermans and Hillary Clintons.

So , referring back to the lead in: who is pulling the strings now?
It sure as fuck ain’t the Dems.
And my suspician is that the window of opportunity for significant change has opened today, but will not be left in that state over long. Haliburton will continue, medical costs will continue to skyrocked, and the deep pockets will continue to fill.

Billmon was right — this is the Cheney Administration.

http://billmon.org/archives/002333.html

Which also means, that the sock puppet preznit will NEVER fire his Geppetto . . .

Just like he will NEVER let go of his Turd Blossom Brain . . .

What is a puppet to do — when all of his strings are poisoned, rotten, and burning to their roots?

In the immortal words of Atrios . . .

heh . . .

even though they’re helping to accomplish part of what we want (bye Cheney), we shouldn’t lionize guys like Wilk, or Powell. When they thought, foolishly, that it served their purpose they were perfectly willing to go along with all this. now, when they have things like their historical reputations, or future ambitions, or a simple desire for revenge, it all spills out.

And when the War of the Empty Suit is over, they’ll all try to reunite and, should they ever be foolish again, will be perfectly willing to do all manner of outrageous things to promote their interests.

I can’t get the Dylan song “The Times They Are A-Changin’” out of my head:

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside
And it is ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.

Off topic for this particular topic, but good news to report nonetheless … I’m proud to report that DeLay’s Sunday School Class, (bless ‘em) (and he has more than one church cause his district is so big now) has decided, after much prayer, to make sure he isn’t re-elected.

Yesser, those of the unmedicated have had a shot in the arm. In his very own district!

Praise the lawd and pass the toast!

it’s probably no grand conspiracy, just alot of things happening at once, but with some taking advantage to add on. these various investigations have been underway for a while — abramoff for a year; plame, 2yrs; delay’s are just getting underway.

but it was really katrina and michael brown’s disastrous mismgmt that iced it. people saw it. it wasn’t the whiny democrats saying mean things; it wasn’t the feminazis. people saw it play out in real time and americans again died on american soil under george bush’s watch.

while wilkerson stepping forward 3 years ago would have been better, in all likelihood, he would have been ignored and marginalized. remember all of those former diplomats and military people who very publicly denounced bush; they got zero attention.

but i think the big one is the receptivity of the media to allow criticism of bush. a few are even tiptoeing around the niger docs story. we’ll see how long that lasts. it seems there’s an effort to assist with the rebuilding of bush’s image as soon as they receive the gameplan.

Much love Valley Girl.

It took you longer cause they didn’t want people coming up with a list ;)

Thanks bunch… I am gonna complain _LOUDLY_

It helps to narrow the targets down, and I think this is the defining issue. These are the worst of the Republican Senate. It’s a lot easier to focus on the Nine Dark Lords than it is to dun all the Repugs in the Senate.

These are the _bad_ guys.

you guys may have long seen it, but Good Night and Good Luck finally made it to the boondocks today.

really wonderful movie. david Straitharn (?) was just uncanny as Murrow. the whole thing was packed with great scene after scene.

and such timing to be coming out now. whew

highly recommended..

although i would add a suspicion, not suggested in the movie, that perhaps maybe part of Paley’s willingness to let Murrow loose was because forces up above had said it was ok. When McCarthy was picking on simple black female file clerks, he was quiet useful. But when he took on the army, he made enemies. And just like Cheney has made enemies McCarthy’s enemies had but to send an approving nod to CBS, a network known to be CIA friendly (no pun intended), to unlease the pat Fitzgerald of his day.

Follow up to prev.

following is quoted from:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/…..-uspo.html

McCain’s amendment establishes the Army Field Manual as the uniform standard for interrogation of detainees and prohibits “cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment of prisoners in the detention of the government.”

But defense analysts note that such a provision would not cover the Central Intelligence Agency or curb the process of moving detainees to other countries where torture is allowed, limiting its impact.

“They’ve left the door open for the CIA. The really hard stuff is still authorized by the president,” says Christopher Pyle, a military legal analyst at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass.
-

the only sad note in this item is that you’ve ruined my image of Steve Inskeep.

I had always thought he was, like Madonna and Pele, a one-name performer — Stevinski.

has anyone read the book Yankee Cowboy War by Carl Oglesby, one of the founder of the old SDS?

Me 5:43 re: 90-9

I’ve been googling ever since I read your request. This one has taken me longer than usual.

The 9 nays on the McCain amend. were:

Allard (R-CO)
Bond (R-MO)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Stevens (R-AK)

source:
http://www.senate.gov/legislat…..9#position

I don’t think it is any one person or group doing the work in bringing BushCo to it knees. These are all different individual people or small groups that have been out of power and/or stepped on by the cabal.

I was involved with a group of microbiologists, and we wrote concerning the anthrax attacks. Each and every one of us who protested (because we sourced the bioagent back to the government)… Were investigated, arrested, run out of business, or lost our jobs as a result of being vocal. Now Stephen Hatfill is suing the DoJ, one other member is also suing… I am considering a suit.

But like our group, there were other groups in other areas… The NSC people handled classified material, they no longer have access, but they are all smart cookies and have good memories.

The CIA are not fond of breaking geneva convention, or of torture, or of having agents outed…

When Fitz cracked open the door… All these ghosts start wanting to haunt. And we can still email, still call people… So in a sense it’s not like some power broker working behind the scenes, it’s lots of little people who have been cheated out of justice.

The tides changed with Katrina. And my guess is that when there is a weak day with little criminal news to report, there will be people like Carter, and Wilkerson coming out and pouring gasoline on the fire.
Me

let’s not forget the war in Iraq. among other things, it is destroying the military and national guard and military and national guard leaders do not like to see that. add in the military careers that have been crushed in the push to war (anybody who got in the way got retired early) and you have the makings for a long list of enemies. And those enemies have resort to lots and lots of intelligence and lots of levers of power.

it is a civil war of sorts, with one part of what one could loosely call the ruling class or at least ruling elite deciding the part of the elite that it’s charge is ‘no damn good for business.’ and, like people everywhere, when someone screws you over like Cheney and ilk, there’s no shortage of people wanting payback.

in the middle, of course, is GW Bush, oddly symbolic of the ruling elite split given his apparent alientation/resentment of Dad. And it’s Dad’s old cronies are leading the charge.

if you accept the empty suit theory, it’s a fight to see who controls the suit. a changing of the guard.

The saving grace for my mood is that Cheney appears to have left a big, slimy trail

Maybe we should send him a big box of Depends!!!! ;-)))

John McCain doesn’t seem to have much backbone on issues other than torture. When the Neocons need him, they just trot him out to say a few words for them and then they put him back in his box.

I also wonder “Why now?”
all this stuff is nothing new – anyone who has been paying attention know this from the start
And I pointedly refused to contribute to NPR for two years since the invasion of Iraq. “Public” radio was giving us the “human” side of the military. Bah.
Anyways, while I am overjoyed to see the facade rupturing, my glee is tempered by the knowledge that tens, if not hundreds of thousands have died for this misadventure; my counry’s coffers have been pillaged, and if all the neocons were stripped of their wealth and subjected to a lingering death by the means they advocate, our country would still be shit out of luck and bereft of any kind of leadership.
Face it, the Dems were complicit sheep for years, unable to mount any sort of opposition. The best they have to offer is “We can do better” Of course we can do fucking better than morrally bankrupt thieves and murderers.
The fact is that the best opposition is coming from John McCain. Well … Patrick J Fitzgerald IS my hero, but we need leadership in Congress – and not from the Joe Liebermans and Hillary Clintons.

So , referring back to the lead in: who is pulling the strings now?
It sure as fuck ain’t the Dems.
And my suspician is that the window of opportunity for significant change has opened today, but will not be left in that state over long. Haliburton will continue, medical costs will continue to skyrocked, and the deep pockets will continue to fill.

rwcole: when I read that bit you wrote below about the situation from Fitzy’s point of view, I swear I got whiplash form my doubletakes, because you sounded like me writing, like you’d jumped into my head and sucked out my thoughts.

Spooky, but good on you.

Very nice post.

wilkerson’s segment on newshour finally ran tonite. here’s the transcript:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb….._11-4.html

This does seem like a concerted effort — but I’m not sure what they are trying to accomplish. Any scandal involving Cheney is going to affect GWB. Either GWB “knows” or he’s been stupid the entire time — and neither one is a good thing for a president.

I wanted to believe that Hastert had a clean nose in all of this… but now I just want to know: Isn’t there something we can indict him on? :)

There appears to be a combined and concerted effort to bring this adminstration down. The heat is coming from multiple sources and directions, but it is coordinated to some degree.

Me- I hope it is not too coordinated. The thought of “someone” even more controlling and in power than BushCo is too frightening. I would prefer to think that Katrina and the Libby indictment were the straws that broke the camels back. I think that there are many people in the gov’t. and media who were powerless to tell this story before and that there is a lot of pent up anger and frustration that is starting to be released.

Imagine shaking up a bottle of Coke. As long as the lid is on, the pressure builds up in the bottle. Release the cap, the pressure drops, and the gas comes out of solution causing the Coke to explode out of the bottle. Better yet, imagine the same process occuring in a volcano.

Has critical mass been reached?

” ‘This is palace intrigue,’ said one senior Republican official.

” ‘There are always people in the palace who think it’s in their self-interest to damage the king’s closest adviser,’ he said. ‘There are people in the White House who think they’d be better off without Karl, but these are people who don’t have the talent and ability to do the job.’ “

(”Stolen” from marysz’s post)

Excuse me and excuse my language too but wtf?

“palace intrigue … the king’s closest adviser,’“

Since when has King Geoge W. Unindicted Co-conspirator To Be Bush been fucking well anointed and crowned exactly? I suppose this is another scumbag who “misspoke” yeah he misspoke alright he accidentally let slip how these bastards see themselves.

Raddled
Illegitmate
Corrupt
Oligarchs

“Republican” my arse

Good last post, Me. I’m not big the ‘woo woo’ stuff, but the confluence of all these forces and events appears capable of creating a quantum shift in awareness. In keeping with the language, Katrina very well may have generated the necessary activation energy for the reaction.

Redd -

Thank you for once again assisting in showing these people for who they really are.

I’ve always known that CheneyCo. wears the pants in this administration, but even I am stunned to read that his goons were spying on the NSC. That takes some Big Time balls (which I figure some people in our government have seen at the rockin-and-rollin Bohemian Grove gatherings).

Coup d’etat.

Cheney just left the puppet in place.

Even I find all this incredible.

Really, even I am stunned.

George Bush calls himself a Christian, but I think he lacks the tragic sensibility required to worship a man who would allow himself to be crucified. Bush is a doer. He wants to solve problems, and he seems to believe that at some point all of the problems can be solved, even the problem of sin. Rather than find redemption in the blood of Christ, he seems to be groping toward some way of redeeming the sin of knowledge, his own and the world’s, all by himself. He sees that you are naked and ashamed, but rather than clothe you he has found the way at last—compassionately, his heart full of love—to pluck out your eye.

http://www.harpers.org/GrandOldInquisitor.html

In for a penny, in for a pound

Cheney Makes a Personal Plea in Defense of Torture

Vice President Dick Cheney made an unusual personal appeal to Republican senators this week to allow CIA exemptions to a proposed ban on the torture of terror suspects in U.S. custody, according to participants in a closed-door session.

It’s sad in a sense… One angle they may be trying to work is to prevent a consitutional crisis and impeachment.

But in the long run, the captian is traditionally supposed to go down with the ship. The more they try to insulate or isolate Bush, the more the empty suit appearance applies… Which is in direct contrast with Bush’s “in control” great powerful world leader self delusion.

These people are _all_ sociopaths.

“Hey, wouldn’t it be a good idea to find someone to work in my office who doesn’t come with an ethical taint — maybe start fresh — since my Chief of Staff just got indicted and all.”

There seems to be a recent pattern in this administration, which is to elevate personal lawyers to high posts. That way when they get hauled in to court they can claim attorney-client privilege and not have to turn over any documents.

People think this is “politics” but it’s not. It’s not even close. Especially for Me.
Me | Homepage | 11.04.05 – 5:28 pm | #

I’m so sorry Me. It sounds horrible.

I think we all sense that we’ve been on the knife’s edge for the past five years. Who knows what crimes the Bush administration has perpetrated under the guise of the Patriot Act, for instance. We’ve all talked about the fact that this is a fascist regime. And many of us have our suspicions that not one but two national elections were stolen.

As the graphic a few threads back illustrated – what we know now is just the tip of the iceberg.

I don’t think people like Bush & Cheney would hesitate for a second to use fear and intimidation to stay in power and bring us into line. But I don’t think it will work. I disagree with John Dean – I don’t think people will rally around the President if there is another terrorist attack in the U.S.

Does it bother anyone else that the “senior Republican official” speaks casually of Bush as “the king?” Even metaphorically that sends chills up my spine.

Does anyone else see the hand of G.H.W. Bush behind all this? The combination of Brent Scowcroft’s recent public statements and Wilkerson’s several public outings look very much like a rescue and restoration of Dubya’s WH. They’re bringing back the realists, the old-timers, to ward off a complete meltdown and of course potential Democratic party electoral gains in either 2006 or 2008. And for Bush Senior’s sake, covering Junior’s ass in the process.

I think it’s particularly evident in statements like this:
“He said he believed that Cheney’s staff prevented Bush from seeing a National Security Council memo arguing strongly that the US needed far more troops for the March 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq.”

So far there’s no real evidence of this documentary trail or proof it exists. Helping Cheney to make a personal decision on a health-related resignation, then getting at least a placeholder, if not a firm guiding hand, into the Vice Presidency for salvage purposes seems to be goal here.

Not that Cheney doesn’t well deserve the moniker “Darth” on his own own or anything.

from today’s Froomkin:

“Friends of Rove and the White House, too, are busy squelching rumors that the administration is debating internally whether Rove can remain effective regardless of what comes of the inquiry.

” ‘This is palace intrigue,’ said one senior Republican official.

” ‘There are always people in the palace who think it’s in their self-interest to damage the king’s closest adviser,’ he said. ‘There are people in the White House who think they’d be better off without Karl, but these are people who don’t have the talent and ability to do the job.’ “

Who are these “friends” of Rove and who is the “senior Republican official”? Sounds like it’s Rove delusionally talking about himself.

OK, but why now?

There appears to be a combined and concerted effort to bring this adminstration down. The heat is coming from multiple sources and directions, but it is coordinated to some degree.

We see the legal angle in the Fitzgerald investigation, and in the DoJ investigations in the house: Delay, Abramoff; they just subpoenaed Robert Ney in the House. The SEC is working over Frist.

Then there is the political angle… People coming up and speaking out, timed in a way with the legal actions. Both Repug and Dem…

The tides changed with Katrina. And my guess is that when there is a weak day with little criminal news to report, there will be people like Carter, and Wilkerson coming out and pouring gasoline on the fire.

Well, gosh darn. There appears to be a civil war in the republican party. For Wilkenson to be speaking so freely, he has permission from someone — if not Powell, then someone from the Scowcroft crowd maybe.

I still sense that people are separating, however feebly, Bush from all the real criminal acts, like the torture memos. If, in the next 3-6 months more republicans speak up like Wilkenson, then a civil war to protect Bush has started.

Do we want Bush protected? NOT

Reading ReddHedd’s post forces me to rearrange my family tree rendering for the biblical antichrist.

Unbeliveable.

this is quite appalling. the whole overseas american torture/gulag thing is beyond the pale.
and thanks again Reddhedd for bringing this together.

what interests me the most about the info in the articles, politically speaking, is the bit about the visible audit trail. which means I assume that there are documents and emails, etc still around somewhere. I keep thinking that sooner or later the gig will be up, there will be a super-whistleblower, another pentagon papers, a change in the Senate or House that will really loosen up the logjam and all these hidden and secretive things, like what Wilkerson is pointing to, will come to light.

I am glad to see that McCain says he’ll be adding the amendment barring inhumane treatment of enemy combatants to any and all bills going through the Senate, until it is passed and made law.

.

OK, but why now? He could have said something years ago. It is just an attempt to separate Colin Powell from the war crimes.

You want to know one of the sad things… I tried to tell people about this years ago… And nobody believed me.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Dick Cheney’s office triggered abuse of Iraqi prisoners with word that filtered down to soldiers in the field that interrogations were not providing needed intelligence, a former senior State Department official has alleged.

It’s hit the national A.P. wires …

I have been trying to identify the 9 Senators who voted for Cheney’s torture provisons.

I know Jeff Sessions is one of them.

http://sessions.senate.gov/email/contact.cfm
(202) 224-3149 – Fax

He is added to my dun list, I will post an update tomorrow.

If anybody can give me the other 8 names… .. .

Dennis Hastert: House Speaker
http://www.house.gov/htbin/for…..ite2.shtml
202-225-0697

Posted in an earlier thread.

Looks like Reid is going after Cheney who controls just about everything in this government.

(The New Republic)

–More dramatically, Reid also made it clear that he believes the delay in the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation of prewar Iraq WMD–the underlying issue behind Tuesday’s closed session–is entirely attributable to Vice President Dick Cheney. “Nothing happens regarding intelligence gathering … unless it’s signed off on by the Vice President,” he said. “[Senate Intelligence chairman Pat] Roberts couldn’t do it”–i.e., Roberts couldn’t conduct a full investigation without Cheney’s approval. When I asked Reid whether he meant to state so flatly that Cheney was personally and directly stalling the Intelligence Committee’s work, he didn’t pause a beat. In fact he almost stood from his chair. “Yes. I say that without any qualification … Circle it.”

http://www.tnr.com/blog/theplank…eplank? pid=3261

All this pours out here and in the press; it can’t go on forever, I mean, at some point, this has to melt down into their base pulling away from these horrors. The torture agenda is one thing, but these allegations describe a completely separate little government making decisions and policy that is just close enough to the real, and equally awful thing to make it like a shadow. How many Senators are involved in this with Cheney and supporting this madness? How many are dumb to the whole thing? How many are just following along because it’s the party line?

And where were these guys before the election???!!!!! They have known about this for a long, long time and are just now coming forward. They are culpable as well for not protecting the public from what they knew was happening.

You know something Redd… Seriously. I have faced these people at gunpoint. You don’t know the meaning of the word “appalled”.

I got over it with time, but the anger never seems to completely fade… Not until I see justice done.

I have known that torture was an approved policy for a very long time. These people have sanctioned murder even.

But they sent federal agents to my house, told me to shut up and be a good boy at gun point. Implied I would be dead if I didn’t. Threatened me with all kinds of retribution, legal action, harrassment problems. It took a long time to shake it off and find my spirit again. I spent time in counseling, it was so bad, the paranoia they inflicted, post traumatic stress… I was unable to function for many months. I had to get help.

People think this is “politics” but it’s not. It’s not even close. Especially for Me.

recall that under our Constitution, the Veep has no inherent executive powers whatsoever … any and all his authority is delegated by the President. While it may be cool to despise, rebuke and revile Cheney, that man only has the power because Bush permits it.

So will be be seeing a concerted effort by the “old guard” (41’s group) and some current insiders to actively shake Cheney loose and cuff him?

If that’s the case, they’re going to have to take Cheney’s whole crew – most if not all of the cabinet and a good part of the top military with him… It’s not going to be an easy thing.

YAY, NPR!!

Sorry. Just had to plug for the home team.

You can’t so much tell it from his photos, but Steve Inskeep is hawwwwt. His wife is always smiling for some reason.

Anyway, as you were.

(NPR rules)

Me — feel free. I’m so appalled right now, I don’t know where to begin.

I am going to request permission to use some material from this post in my outgoing letter tomorrow.

And we’ve been calling BUSH the unelected failure!